Over a 100 countries took part at the Special Olympics World Winter Games in Austria from March 14-25 and India brought home a brilliant 73 medals from the event. This includes 37 gold, 10 silver and 26 bronze medals.
Just like the Olympics, the Special Olympics also happen once every four years and India bettered their 2013 record of 46 medals by a large margin.
The Special Olympics Bharat (SOB) won in three team events – floor hockey, unified floorball and traditional floorball. Their tally of 30 medals in these events was the largest in a single day at the event.
India also won 10 medals in Alpine skiing and another eight in snowboarding, where Himachal Pradesh’s Sanjay Kumar was the standout individual performer.
The Sports Ministry had earlier cleared a contingent of 90 athletes, 23 coaches and three officials at full cost to the government.
The total cost for participation for the Indian contingent at the Special Olympics Winter Games was about Rs 1.50 crore.
Speaking on the occasion, sports minister Vijay Goel said these athletes have proved that by devotion and determination a person can achieve anything in his life.
Goel expressed hope that many of these special athletes will become a sporting star and bring glory to the nation in future as well.
Feature image source: Twitter/Vijay Goel